Cabinet ventilation system

ABSTRACT

The cabinet ventilation system is mounted on top of a cabinet for providing ventilation throughout the entire cabinet by drawing heated air up and out of the interior. The ventilation system is designed with a ventilation hole in the system base that aligns with the cabinet&#39;s vent. The ventilation system has two fans mounted on a support tray in the base, covering this hole. When the fans are turned on, the fans force air to flow out through the cabinet&#39;s vent and out the ventilation hole, thus, circulating ambient air throughout the interior of the cabinet. A fan controller in electrical communication with the fans is used for selectively actuating the fans.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to storage systems, and particularly to a cabinet ventilation system.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cabinet ventilation assemblies help to protect entire collections housed in cabinets, from home theater and audio video systems to computers in hospitals and banks, as well as server rooms and data centers, by dispersing the accumulation of heat generated by the systems as a whole. Ventilation systems have been designed for venting and cooling cabinets and enclosures by allowing for flexibility in how the ventilation systems are installed and used with cabinets to disperse the naturally occurring heat from components. Cabinet ventilation systems improve natural airflow in a cabinet. Once the natural airflow is maximized, heat will more easily circulate and rise up and out of the cabinet in order to draw ambient air into the cabinet, which will cool the components.

One system that particularly requires cabinet ventilation is a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). A UPS often has large batteries that are stored in a cabinet. Such batteries can often develop a large amount of heat. If the passive ventilation system is inadequate, the heat in the cabinet can damage the batteries or cause erratic operation of the UPS.

Thus, a cabinet ventilation system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The cabinet ventilation system is mounted on top of a cabinet for providing ventilation throughout the entire cabinet by drawing heated air up and out of the interior of the cabinet. The ventilation system is designed with a ventilation hole in the system base that aligns with the cabinet's vent, allowing the cabinet ventilation system be used as a retrofit add-on system for the cabinet's original vent. The ventilation system has two fans mounted on a support tray in the base, covering the ventilation hole. When the fans are turned on, the fans circulate hot air out through the cabinet's vent and out the ventilation hole, and circulate ambient air throughout the interior of the cabinet. A fan controller in electrical communication with the fans is used for selectively actuating the fans.

Alternatively, when the cabinet does not have vents formed in the top wall of the cabinet, vent holes may be formed in the cabinet by drilling or cutting holes in the top wall of the cabinet for alignment with the fans of the cabinet ventilation system.

These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an environmental view of a cabinet ventilation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 1B is an exploded environmental partial perspective view of the cabinet ventilation system of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cabinet ventilation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded partial perspective view of the cabinet ventilation system of FIG. 2, showing details of the fan assemblies.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electronic components of the cabinet ventilation system of FIG. 2.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The cabinet ventilation system 10, as diagrammatically depicted in FIG. 1A, is mounted on top of a cabinet C for providing ventilation throughout the entire cabinet C by fans drawing heated air up and out of the interior of cabinet C, as illustrated by airflow A. Air flow is created by ventilation system 10 by drawing ambient air into the cabinet C through the bottom vents V, and by drawing heated air from the inside of the cabinet C up and out through exhaust vents E (shown in FIG. 1B) at the top of the cabinet. As a result, ambient air is circulated throughout the interior and cools the components inside of the cabinet C. As shown, the system 10 is a retrofit add-on, dimensioned and configured to be used with the cabinet's original vent.

FIG. 1B shows an exploded view of the cabinet ventilation system 10 mounted on top of a cabinet C having exhaust vents E in the top face of the cabinet C. The ventilation system 10 is mounted onto the cabinet C with foam strips 34, which are attached to the bottom of the base 12 (shown in FIG. 2) of the system's housing. The foam strips 34 provide a seal, as well as a noise dampening, between the ventilation system 10 and the cabinet C. The seal is not a permanent seal, as the ventilation system 10 is not permanently attached to the cabinet C. This configuration is particularly well suited for use with a cabinet made for a UPS system by Critical Power Group of Leesburg, Va., which comes equipped with a pair of vents in the top wall of the cabinet and vents in the lower sidewalls of the cabinet for passive ventilation. However, the ventilation system 10 may also be used with other cabinet models by drilling or cutting suitable ventilation holes in the top wall of the cabinet, e.g., with a hole saw, that are aligned with the system's fans. In this case, the base 12 would not be needed.

FIG. 2 illustrates the internal components of ventilation system 10, which include a housing base 12 and a support tray 14 mounted on top of the base 12. FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the components, including a ventilation slot 24 defined in the base 12. The support tray 14 covers the slot 24 when all the components are assembled, and is attached to base 12 with double-sided adhesive tape 26. The housing base 12 and support tray 14 may be made of any suitable type of material, such as plastic or the like. It should be understood that the base 12 may be dimensioned and configured to match the top of the cabinet C.

The support tray 14 has a pair of elevated members (chimney mounts) 16 having openings 17 defined therein, which are aligned with the ventilation slot 24, allowing for the circulation of ambient air throughout the interior of the cabinet. The elevated members 16 are integrally formed in the support tray 14 and serve as mounting platforms for a pair of fans 18, which are the means for creating the circulation of airflow A.

The pair of fans 18 is mounted on top of the elevated members 16, covering the openings 17 in the members 16, Each of the fans 18, as shown in FIG. 3, is composed of a fan housing 30 surrounding the fan blades, and a fan grill 32 mounted over the blades. The fans may be covered with any desired hoods, baffles, duct work or the like, as is conventionally known, to prevent dust, dirt, liquid spills, or other foreign matter from entering the cabinet C through the fans and ventilation holes when the fans are not operating.

In order to control the fans 18, a fan controller 28 is provided, which is in electrical communication with the fans 18. The controller 28 is located between the pair of fans 18 on the support tray 14, and is disposed in its own fan control housing 20, which is integrally formed in the support tray 14, just as elevated members 16 are. Power is supplied to the controller 28 and the fans 18 by any suitable type of power supply, such as a conventional AC wall transformer 42 and corresponding plug 40. The fans 18 may, e.g., operate on 12 volts DC supplied by a wall transformer.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electronic components of the cabinet ventilation system, including optional features connected to the fan controller 28. The optional features include an air sensor 44, a battery monitor 46, a hydrogen detector 48, a smoke detector 50, a remote monitoring system 52, and a temperature sensor. The remote monitor system 52 is capable of detecting when the fans fail to work properly or the temperature exceeds a set threshold, and as a result, will set off a remote alarm.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims. 

I claim:
 1. A cabinet ventilation system, comprising: a support tray having a pair of spaced apart elevated mounts, each of the elevated mounts having a hole defined therein, the tray being adapted for mounting over vent openings defined in a top wall of a cabinet requiring ventilation; a pair of fans mounted on the support tray and respectively covering the holes defined in the elevated mounts, the pair of fans being adapted for drawing heated air through the vent openings in the cabinet, thereby forming a cooling air flow through the cabinet; and a fan controller in electrical communication with the pair of fans for selectively actuating the pair of fans.
 2. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising a flat platform base having an elongated slot defined therein; said support tray being releasably attached to the base with the holes in the elevated mounts aligned with the slot, the base being adapted for attachment to the top wall of the cabinet with the slot aligned over pre-formed vents in the cabinet.
 3. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 2, further comprising at least one foam strip attached to said base, the at least one foam strip forming an airtight seal between said base and the cabinet.
 4. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein each of said fans comprises: a fan housing; and a fan grill.
 5. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein said elevated mounts define chimneys.
 6. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein said support tray further comprises a fan controller housing integrally formed thereon, the controller housing being disposed between said elevated mounts.
 7. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising means for mounting said support tray to the cabinet.
 8. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 7, wherein said means for mounting said support tray to the cabinet comprises double-sided adhesive tape.
 9. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising an air sensor in communication with said fan controller.
 10. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising a battery monitor in communication with said fan controller.
 11. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising a hydrogen detector in communication with said fan controller.
 12. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising a smoke detector in communication with said fan controller.
 13. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising a remote monitoring system in communication with said fan controller, said remote monitoring system being capable of detecting failure of at least one of said pair of fans.
 14. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 13, further comprising at least one remote alarm for detecting failure of at least one of said pair of fans.
 15. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one temperature sensor in communication with said fan controller.
 16. The cabinet ventilation system according to claim 1, further comprising: a wall transformer in electrical communication with said fan controller; and a plug for releasably connecting the cabinet ventilation system to an external power supply, said plug being in electrical communication with the wall transformer. 